FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jamaican Stars Shine at Reggae Marathon 10
Negril, Jamaica -- Nearly 1,200 runners from 29 countries toed the
starting line at the tenth staging of the Reggae Marathon last Saturday,
but the day belonged to local favourites, with Rupert Green and Elizabeth
Mondon taking top honours.
Green, the defending men's took the lead early and held on to finish in
2:30:27. Mondon ran a slow tactical first half, before pushing ahead of
last year's women's champion, Terry Refjimbal (3:09:17) to finish in
2:55:50, a personal record. Mondon, is a native of France, but lives in
Kingston and is a member of the Jamdammers Running Club, giving the hosts
of the Reggae Marathon their first victory in ten years.
On its tenth anniversary, Reggae Marathon cemented its reputation as an
exotic destination marathon, its famous torch bearers and drummers
providing a thrilling start that took the runners' minds off the light
rain. The skies eventually cleared and the temperature remained a cool 72°
F for most of the race. The route took runners along the Negril coastline
and ended at the Long Bay Beach Park, where runners poured unto Negril's
famous seven-mile white sand beach to enjoy post race massages and a swim.
This year's event boasted its largest field ever, with an even mix of local
and international runners. President of the Jamdammers' Running Club,
Emile Leiba, said "We're proud of creating and sustaining a world class
event that promotes local running and brings visitors from all over the
world to Jamaica. We look forward to seeing Reggae Marathon grow
stronger."
The day's other winners included Jamaicans Kirk Brown (1:10:57) from
Clarendon and Twishauna Williams (1:29:08) from St. Catherine the Half
Marathon. Shawn Pitter (31:56) and former American Olympian Carrie
Tollefson (35:05) were the men's and women's champions in the 10k.
Tollefson, who represented the USA in 2004 in the Athens Olympics, donated
her prize money to a local high school.
St. Jago, Homewood Technical and Bellefield dominated the hotly contested
High School 10k Championships. St. Jago beat Holmwood in the girls' 10k,
but lost to them in the boys' division. Bellefield took third place in
both events.
Bank of Jamaica, Urban Development Corporation and Advanced Integrated
Systems topped the Corporate 10K Championships. First time entrant, E.
Pihl & Sons fielded the largest corporate team of the day and also took the
top spot in the Corporate Half Marathon Championships, beating veterans
LIME and JMMB, who took second and third.
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